How to Prepare Yourself for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Tristan Reyes

Monster Hunter World Iceborne is the next biggest expansion for Monster Hunter World that adds new monsters, armors, and a new hub area where new players get to hang out in for the new expansion. Well before you start it or if you’re starting off Monster Hunter by the time the expansion comes out, we’ll tell you all of the things you need to know on how to prepare yourself for Monster Hunter World Iceborne.

Beat the main story of Monster Hunter World in order to reach Iceborne

Before anything, you need to reach the end of the main game in order to even start Iceborne. So you’ll have to beat the main story which will last around like 20 hours at most so make sure you defeat the Zorah Magdaros and Xeno’jiiva and watch the credits so you can actually start the Iceborne Expansion. Yes it does seem like a pain but luckily Iceborne greets new players by helping them out a bit. Something that might help players beat the game faster than 20 whole hours.

Make use of the DLC armor and make more.

When you start your game, you’ll get a free set of Iceborne armor called the Guardian Set. It starts at a whopping 50 defense along Level 3 Health Boost, Recovery Up, Level 2 Marathon runner, Level 2 Divine Blessing, and Level 1 Defense Boost. It also includes defense against Fire, Ice, and Dragon. These are all pretty general resistances that will help players take down most creatures in the game as fire, Ice, and dragon will generally defend you in many of the game’s situations. Additionally the Health Boost will be especially helpful early on as generally your health is pretty dang low at the start of the game, so this is extremely helpful after eating a meal.

Honestly the point of the armor is to help those that are new to Monster Hunter get a great piece of armor, at least until you reach high-rank in which you’ll want to make the best armor build for what you’re doing. Basically ,match skills from the armor with your weapons and try to get some ice defense when building a new armor as Iceborne is all about that type of stuff.

Learn to use your Clutch Claw

Talk to the Smithy and you’ll get a new low level optional quest called Learning the Clutch. It will show you all of the basics of using the clutch claw.

For starters you can now aim while your weapon is unsheathed. This is a new improvement as the sword and shield was originally the only weapon that could use the slinger pod unsheathed, so you can just aim down during the middle of a fight.

You should try to wait for the monster to flinch before attempting to clutch with the following effects.

First with the circle button or B on the Xbox One, you can change the monster’s direction, meaning that if you need to move a monster to a ledge or traps, you can do it this way without all of the hassle of waiting.

You can also press the right trigger to unleash all of your slinger ammo to flinch the enemy and possibly toppling them over.

Of course these abilities won’t work if they’re enraged, so don’t try it or you’ll be disappointed.

What you can do if they’re enraged is simply use your weapon’s attack when clutched to soften a monster’s hide to make it easier to attack, such as the Barroth or Radoban. Additionally you can get some extra slinger ammo by doing this.

Also you can press the left trigger to do a slinger burst after doing a weapon action. This can result in you doing more powerful attacks very easily. It’s different for every weapon, so look at your hunter’s notes.

Fully Upgrade Astera

Well another thing that you need to know is that Astera should be properly upgraded and you do that by doing the optional missions that the guild members give you throughout your adventure. They’re usually posted to give you some extra points, but sometimes you’ll get a mission that rewards you with new ingredients, new mantles, and more space for you to harvest in your garden. These are all extremely important to the game’s endgame as you probably need all the help you can get through the troublesome fights.

If you go far enough in the game, you’ll be able to fully upgrade the kitchen for your meowscular chef. This way you’ll be able to potentially max out a your health and stamina at the beginning of your hunts. By doing this you’ll be sure to last longer during your time hunting down these colossal creatures.

Upgrade Botanical Research

Upgrading your Botanical Research center is extremely important late-game as it is your source of free materials in between hunts. While you could spend an hour gathering 10 pieces of honey in expeditions, you can easily grab 20 pieces of honey right after a hunt ends. It’s that easy, just put in the right fertilizer and vegetables you want to grow and wait a few hunts to collect them. Of course this all relates to doing the side-missions the botanical researcher gives you and by going though the story you can easily find all of these missions in order to get the most out of the official guild garden.

Upgrade Palico Abilities

Now let’s take a look at one of your favorite things that you’ll need to prepare in Iceborne. Your palico. That’s right, your tiny little companion thoughout your game could use an upgrade or two to help you fight these G-Rank monstrosities in Iceborne. First off, give your palico the best armor worth defending themselves in the expansion, probably some ending high-rank armor will do. Additionally you need to give them a weapon and any of your strongest weapons will make due. Then finally make sure you have their abilities unlocked and upgraded.

You can give your palicos new gadgets that will replace your default vigorwasp healing. While it’s extremely useful, you can surely get different ones. In order you can get the gadgets, you’ll have to find them in their perspective maps. You can find the Flashlfly Cage in the Ancient Forest, Shieldspire from the Wildspire Wastes, Coral Orchestra from the Coral Highlands, Plunderblade from the Rotten Vale, and Meowlotov Cocktail from the Elder’s Recess. The quests are fairly simple and can be done during any expedition, so take your time and try to get these quests done and in order.

Well that’s what we have for you to prepare yourselves for the new Monster Hunter Iceborne Expansion. Make sure to keep following us to get more guides to get you through the Iceborne Expansion.

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Tristan Reyes

A writer and video editor at heart, he’s always seeking for some excitement and fun in the gaming industry. As a graduate from the University of North Florida with degree in Science and Communication, he believes that he can provide the world with the most interesting information in the gaming world while keeping people entertained.